Clove Always
by TheOtherLachance
Summary: Clove always tried to stick by her rules and morals... But who said it always worked?


**Just a oneshot :) Really want to do a SYOT but my last one got banned... Grrrrr ;)**

_Clove learned things at a young age..._

Grabbing the cat by the scruff of its neck, the six year old girl watches it with slightly apprehensive eyes. She's never seen something like it before, with it's starving, desperate eyes. Prodding it dubiously, she lets out a cry of pain as it bats at her hand with a startled hiss. The girl drops it to the ground and, with disgusted eyes, stamps as hard as she can on its head.

Crunch.

Blood splatters everywhere as the creature yowls and the girl screams. Backing away, she stares, terrified, at the creature with the mangled head... It's still moaning and moaning and moaning. Horrified, she leaps forward and smashes her foot down hard on its head. The red liquid pools around the creature, as she jumps again and again on it, screaming as it's brains splatter all over the road.

_Clove always listened to her elders and betters..._

The eight year old girl sits by the stream, kicking the water so it sprays out in all directions. She's alone- that's how she likes it. Why would she, of all people, want to be part of a group? Nobody liked her, nobody cared about her... People would cut her dead in the street, because who wanted to be near the little knife-girl?

"Clove!" out of the corner of her eye, she spots a boy about two years older than her- she recognises him from school and the training centre. Cato, that's what he's called. Quite good looking, she muses, as she watches him run over; but he's as thick as a plank. He's got something clutched in his hand- it's a rabbit.

In these woods, up high in the mountains, there is plenty of wildlife.

"Look what I caught," he boasts, holding the squirming rabbit inches from her face. She does not move and stares, a little ruefully, at the creature. She's never liked animals, not since that cat. Turning her eyes silently towards him, she shrugs.

"So what?" the girl replies, and her voice is slightly hoarse with disuse. "It's a rabbit. Big deal."

For a few seconds the boy is quiet, biting his lip. He'd expected her to be more impressed; after all, he had ambushed and caught it using only his father's hunting knife. Seeing the look of vague boredom in her eyes, he flushes. Cato is desperate to impress this girl- he's always been slightly intrigued with her. And to seem tough and strong and make her respect him... he knows what he has to do.

Taking the rabbit in one hand, grabbing it by the neck, he squeezes with an evil grin on his rather square face. "Let's kill it and eat it... do you know how they gut a rabbit, Clove?"

Truthfully, the little girl shakes her head and he laughs. His father, a butcher and huntsman in his spare time, always enjoyed telling him gruesome stories of how to skin a carcass and turn it into the meat they ate. Pressing the rabbit against his front, Cato twists it's head around, breaking its neck with a sickening crack. Clove watches, uninterested, as he digs his fingers into the soft fur around its neck and feels the bones through the thin skin. He smirks.

"First of all, you kill it like that. Then, you have to get it's organs out..." slowly, from the neck downwards, Cato squeezes at the creature. Squeezing its intestines down its body, towards its anus. Eventually, with a nasty plopping sound, the guts begin to spurt out of the rabbit's behind, falling in a glistening, steaming pile underneath them. Almost rubbery in texture, Clove notes, as she watches in interest as Cato kicks the guts away. He proceeds to skin the rabbit, ripping little pieces of skin off and exposing the red flesh underneath. He talks as he works.

"I want to be a butcher when I'm older too, like my dad," he explains, as the creature's blood dribbles down his pale, muscular hands. Clove listens patiently. "And cut up animal corpses. It's fun- you ever done it?"

He jabbers on for hours, skinning the rabbit, and the girl listens. Closely.

_Clove always tried her hardest..._

A ten year old Clove watches the dummy with intensely concentrating eyes. For a few moments she watches, sizing up her prey, before she throws several knifes in quick succession. Each one hits what would be a vital organ; this ten year old is more deadly than most adults. With a careful eye she pivots on one foot and concentrates on another dummy, throwing a knife between it's eyes, and then spinning around into a shoulder roll. Launching herself upwards, she grabs a knife in each hand and throws into two separate dummies.

Breathing hard, she turns her head towards her trainer; an ex victor named Enobaria, who is watching her closely. The woman's cold expression tells her all she needs to know and, with a dejected apology, Clove leaves the training room. So stupid... So weak... So pathetic... She'd failed in front of Enobaria, and now there was no way she'd ever get into the Games. Alright, perhaps she was only ten, but she had to try harder. She would not be satisfied until she got respect and... and fear.

_Clove loved taking care of her younger siblings..._

"Sit still, you stupid brat!" with a cry of impatience, an eleven year old Clove swishes around the family's small kitchen, searching for something to bribe the screaming child with. They rarely have anything usable as a bribe, having very little money, but Clove could pray. Because if they don't, it is very likely she'll throw the baby out of the window.

Rifling through the cupboards, she eventually finds a tiny square of chocolate in an outdated wrapper, and snatches it up, throwing it with all her might at the child.

"You want fucking chocolate? There's your chocolate! Now shut up!"

_Clove was always proper around young men..._

A thirteen year old Clove pushes Cato's hand away. It was getting far too friendly with her backside; a gentle touch she could deal with, but he was practically sticking his fingers up her anus. Rather reminded of the "rabbit incident" when she was eight, she steps away from him and walks away towards her small group of friends. They laugh and gossip about him and Clove stands a little to the side, humiliated, as she watches Cato boast about getting a feel.

Red hot anger billows up in her and she walks away from the groups, hands in her pockets. She can hear them shouting after her but she doesn't care. She hates Cato; how dare he boast about her, like she's a prize to be won? And she thought... she thought he cared about her, even loved her... Just goes to show you can't trust men, she thinks grimly to herself, as she walks home.

"Maybe I should just become a lesbian." she says to herself angrily, and then laughs at the thought, shaking her head. No, she is definitely not a lesbian. Although she'd never admit it, she loved Cato deeply. That was why it hurt so much that he objectified her like he did.

_Clove tried to bring honour to her District..._

After her name was called out in the Reaping and she went up gleefully, not even having had to volunteer for some other poor fool, Clove feels slight misgivings. What if she failed in her task to bring glory to District 2? What if she... God forbid... died? Shaking the thought out of her head, she steps up and smirks at the crowd.

She watches Cato volunteer and shakes his hand, feeling her hand squished in his huge paw. She wonders if he'll be the one to kill her... not that she's going to die...

In training, she shows all of the tributes what she's made of- she picks a fight with the girl from 8 and throws her knives like a deadly whirlwind. She gets a 10 in the assessment, and the crowd loves her in the interview.

At the bloodbath, she kills 4. Maybe that'll be enough to please her parents. Then, afterwards, she and the other Careers go on a killing spree and get the brat from 8 who she argued with in training. That girl needed to die- she was far too dumb and far too good with her knives to stay alive. She'd be a threat.

The Games went in a whirlwind from then on.

_Clove always respected those with disabilities..._

"Poor little cripple," she teases, her foot on the chest of the boy from 10. He's lying on the floor wheezing, his blue eyes rolled back in his head, and his breathing ragged. She's chased him through the woods, and now she's caught him. He's at her mercy.

Crunching her foot down on his neck, Clove swiftly ends his life, not wanting to prolong it. The chase made her weary and, anyhow, she feels a little bad. Poor guy, getting sent into the Games with that bad leg... Honestly, it's surprising he got so far. The crack of splitting bones lets the girl from 2 know he's dead- as well as the trickle of blood that dribbles down his chin. The boy moans a long, agonized groan, before a cannon goes and he falls limp.

Clove walks off back towards the other Careers who are shouting for her. They don't need to know what happened. It's her kill.

_Clove always tried to be thorough in the jobs she did_

Straddling firegirl's waist, she stares down at the girl with demonic eyes. Katniss is at her mercy, now, and Clove has no mercy left to give. Taking a small, sharp knife in one hand, she toys with the girl.

"Scream, firegirl..." she whispers, so quietly that nobody but herself can hear. That's how she intended it to be- it's more of a wish than an order. The stupid girl is staring right into her eyes... so she'll have to make her scream. So be it.

She doesn't know how to torture someone who doesn't seem afraid. Usually, she'd start with the face, and slice patterns into it, slice the skin away from their screaming skull. But how should she do that?

"Where's loverboy?" Clove teases, and is delighted with Katniss' response. The girl lets out a hiss of anger and writhes beneath her, desperately trying to get free. But the girl from 2 holds strong.

"He's out there hunting Cato!" Katniss replies, and for a second, Clove is worried. She whips around, searching the edge of the woods with her eyes... But sees nothing. She grins and turns back to her prey.

"Liar," she says triumphantly. "I bet that's what's in your pack isn't it, 12? Medicine for loverboy... How sweet. It's a shame he'll never get it." Encouraged by her struggling, Clove holds stronger, and whispers, face inches away from Katniss', "It's a shame you couldn't save your little friend... what was her name... Rue?"

Experimentally, Clove takes the girl's face between both hands and moves it from side to side, trying to find an angle she likes. When she can't find one, she grimaces in annoyance and decides on her lips. She makes a jibe at the girl, and she spits in her face; that makes Clove angry. Wiping the mixture of blood and saliva from her cheek, she readies herself to slice the bitch into pieces.

Her lips, Clove decides, will go first. Teasingly tracing the edge of the knife around them, she sinks her blade into the skin and feels the delicious feeling of it sinking into skin... Blood blossoms from the wound and the girl from 2 can scarcely stop herself moaning.

It's a beautiful contrast. She'd love to lick the red liquid away, but knows she must not.

But it just looks so good. The way firegirl is staring up at her, eyes glaring deep into her very soul... Clove smiles. Perfect- when she wins the Games, this will be her favourite death. It's perfection... But perfection never lasts.

_Clove always tried to be brave..._

Arms fasten themselves around her waist and pull her off Katniss and into the air. Clove dangles, staring down in bewilderment at the person holding her... It's Thresh, the huge tribute from 11. He's looking at her with fury and hatred- there's a look of death in his eyes. A pang of fear runs through her, as he drops her to the ground.

"You killed the little girl?!" he shouts at her, and Clove feels her body going slightly stiff with terror. She begins to scramble backwards, eyes wide and popping. Her heart is thudding hard- she's defenceless against this monster of a boy.

"Cato!" the girl screams, willing her last defence to come to her rescue. He shouts her name back, but he's too far away... Clove knows she's dead.

Thresh advances on her, holding up a rock the size of a loaf of bread and she stares at it, eyes wide. Her mouth opens wide to scream again, her heart pounding, as she desperately tries to get away... the rock comes crashing down towards her head.

It hits hard on impact, sending her sprawling backwards. She hears a loud crack as her skull splinters, and lets out a scream of agony as the bones split and she feels blood dribbling out of her mouth. The whole world goes shaky, and she sees stars erupting in front of her eyes as she falls backwards. Pain throbs through her body... But at the same time, as blood drips soundly from her nose, ears and mouth... There's a certain peace in death. It was not a dignified death... but perhaps she never deserved one.

Clove dies wondering what her life was actually lived for.

R.I.P


End file.
